Such organic-inorganic hybrids are of increasing interest in various fields of chemistry, especially in the field of catalysis, by virtue of their ability to combine certain advantages of organic compounds and inorganic compounds. The creation of strong interactions between organic and inorganic compounds affords a durable immobilization of organic species on inorganic compounds, conferring the structural order of the inorganic compounds on the organic species.
It is known to functionalize phyllosilicates (lamellar silicates), such as talc, by the grafting of alkoxyorganosilanes. However, the grafting ratios achievable by the resulting organic-inorganic hybrid materials are not satisfactory.
As another alternative to the preparation of organic-inorganic hybrids, methods for the direct synthesis of such materials by the sol-gel route are also known. Such syntheses by the sol-gel route cannot generally be carried out in an aqueous medium.